SS Indoor Eventing February 2022

 If you follow me on social media, you probably saw that Cinder and I had our first show of the season over the weekend. Trainer A is hosting a series of three indoor eventing shows and the second one was this month. Since Cinder is living at the host barn, and has jumped some of the jumps already, I figured it was a good schooling opportunity for us. 

I had my regular Friday lesson and Cinder was a little wound up. Some people had started arriving for the show and were schooling, and a saddle fitter had driven down to the outdoor arena so he didn't have to carry saddles back and forth. What really set her off was the pile of jumps behind us in the above photo. She did kinda get over them, but the above moment was taken during her spooking at the saddle fitter starting his car, just out of frame near the pile of jumps. Cinder got really scared of that end of the arena after that, and after another spin spook, A suggested we head to the indoor and let her mind chill. 

The greenery was cut by A, the barn manager and myself Friday night. We took the gator up on the trails and whacked branches and ferns while consuming adult beverages and had a blast!

 Cinder was much happier inside and after a little flat work, A told me to do a gambler's choice and pick fences out as I went around the arena. We were showing in the Intro (18"-2') division, and even though I know A had set the courses soft, most of the fences looked tiny. Some of the BN fences looked doable to me. We schooled all the Intro jumps, except a pair of purple boxes and Cinder didn't care at all. I was feeling confident heading into Saturday.

Purple boxes of doom

 I longed Cinder Saturday morning, just in case, and then got on for the open schooling before the show started. Cinder was looky, she didn't like the horses standing outside the open side of the arena, and since the ring was a little hectic at times I mostly just walked and let her see everything. I did pop over a few fences, but not the purple boxes. I should have done more in warm up, including jumping every jump in our course, but next show I'll know better. Nicole came by to watch, video, and gave me some delicious cookies. Our second round video is below. Thanks Nicole!

Cinder was distracted in our first round, spooking at the door on the side of the arena, and then very politely ducking out to the left of the purple boxes. It was like she figured out it was easier to go around then over them. I brought her back around and she kind jumped/ran out the side again and instead of trying a third time, I continued on with the course. At the end of our round A ran out and made herself a human standard and had me do the boxes a couple of times. We took a quick walk break then stayed in the ring for our second round. It went much better as Cinder was more focused and didn't try to run out on the boxes. 

bought from KL Pet Prints

I had a lot of fun, and the show as a great low key learning environment. And while the Intro fences didn't look scary at all, I don't think I'll be switching to eventing any time soon.